T Bird & the Breaks

T Bird & the Breaks

Third albums normally lock in certain principles, fusing together influences on which an act expects to thrive. They can also serve as trip wire in sonically hazardous terrain, wherein Harmonizm stumbles. While 2009 debut Learn About It, and Never Get Out of This Funk Alive two years later, played out equally unchained and experimental, Harmonizm eschews these notions for a stripped-down, streamlined take on soul. Sanitized of the dirty element giving their self-proclaimed "chunk music" its dynamism, it's Clorox clean. "Space Dust" runs closest to previous work, but doesn't quite hit the mark. They've also gone lightweight, "Will to Live" sounding like Mayer Hawthorne doing Lenny Kravitz. The album plays well in regards to sentiment, especially covering Elvin Bishop's 1975 hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love." Mostly unimaginative, Harmonizm takes a definitive step back for the talented T Bird & the Breaks.